Name a celebrity -- Jay-Z and Kanye West, Brittney Spears and Justin Bieber and even Paris Hilton -- and they probably have their own fragrance.
So if you ever wanted to stink like a rapper, pop star or floozy all you have to do is hit the perfume aisle at Macy's.
But is possible to smell presidential? To wear a musk inspired by President Obama?
Say it with me: Yes we can. (Si se puede)
Well, sort of.
President Obama doesn't have a lucrative cologne deal, at least not yet.
But if you find yourself wandering around Harper Square in Hyde Park and stumble into Front Line, an African-centric book and craft store, you'll find a little Obama in a bottle.
For about $7, you can get a few ounces of roll-on body oil named after the 44th U.S. President.
The fellow at the Front Line counter who sold me a bottle said he's not sure why the blue oil is named after Obama or that it particularly conjures the essence of our hometown commander-in-chief. But it sure is popular, he assured me. 
Of course, I soaked myself in Obama Oil for a few days and asked people to take a whiff.
The overall consensus: Obama Oil smells like a stripper doused in baby powder and Old Spice -- at least on me.
Which makes me wonder: Did I get the Clinton Oil by mistake?
Recently in Hyde Park Category
Gus Lukis' hands are bruised and tarred with black shoe polish and glue.
"Dirty hands make clean money," the 81-year-old Hyde Park cobbler says with a grin that lingers.
Lukis knows a lot about that. He's run his tiny shop on 57th Street -- Hyde Park Shoe Rebuilders -- for 51 years. All day long, even in the bitter cold, neighbors and fellow shopkeepers stop in to say hello, get a purse fixed or brag about the tasty baklava they had for lunch.
Lukis has fixed the backpacks of University of Chicago students and the wingtips of Nobel Prize winners. When new businesses set up shop over the years, Lukis sent over referrals and, of course, made friends with the owners.
They don't call him the "Mayor of 57th Street" for nothing.
Maybe someone somewhere is more geeky about Harry Potter than Ashley Demma, but I doubt it.
The 21-year-old University of Chicago senior tells about her wizard fetish in today's edition of She's a Character.
You can help Demma cement a place in Harry Potter fandom by voting her an Uber Fan in the Embassy Suites online contest. First prize gets her $10,000, 20 nights of hotel stays and an iPhone.
If she wins, Demma knows what she wants to do.
"I'm going to Harry Potter World."
As we are wont to do in Chicago -- vote early and vote often.
Watch Mr. Moughrabi make his signature dish:
The Tribune's Tempo section today teases to a map of "Obama's Chicago" they'll publish tomorrow that includes "where Barack first kissed his wife to-be."
Not a bad idea.
After all, I told you where the Obama kiss happened May 25, 2007. (It was outside the now-closed Baskin Robbins on 53rd St. in Hyde Park.)
And we had a map, too.
So, if you don't want to wait until Wednesday for last years news, click here.
Co-op Markets members are set to vote on whether to file bankruptcy and keep the grocery store open, or close for good and let a chain grocery store take its place.
If you had a say, how would you vote? And why?
Business reporter Sandra Guy broke the news a week ago that Co-op Markets executives are considering closing the independent, customer-owned grocery store at 54th and Lake Park Drive. after 75 years. (Coming Friday in Neighborhoods -- a profile of the Co-op's most loyal employee.)
On Sunday, about 400 people reportedly turned out for the membership meeting to hear the choices the financially struggling Co-op will face.
The membership will to pick it's poison: filing bankruptcy and undergoing a financial restructuring. Or cutting a deal to close the place so a new grocer takes over.
Ballots will be sent out soon. If you had a say, how would you vote?
We could take a stroll around Hyde Park, and I could point out landmarks like Rockefeller Chapel or Jimmy's Woodlawn Tap.
We might even stop by my favorite spot for fajitas, Mellow Yellow, just off Harper Square.
I'd also probably take you The Cove on 55th, the closest dive bar to the lake.
But if you want a better Hyde Park tour guide than I'd be -- maybe someone who lives in one of those stately Hyde Park mansions and happens to be running for president -- then I'm here to help.
At his best, Mark Konkol is a White Sox fan. He lives on the South Side. He
enjoys cold beer. At one time or another over the last 10 years, he's covered Chicago and Cook County government, city schools, transportation and the ins-and-outs of neighborhood life. E-mail him at mkonkol@suntimes.com.
